Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

[Mark42]

Thinking about buying one of the Kobalt tool sets at Lowes. Odd that on the Lowes website, the reviews are pretty bad. Just wondering if its only complainers who post reviews or are the tools really crap? (2 of 3 customer reviews said they broke easy).

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I have never had any problem with Lowes tools, I have purchased quite a few of them and they work right along with my Snap on and Mac tools with no problems.

I have broke Snap on and and Mac, but as of right now, I have actually never broke any of my Lowes or Home Depot tools, time will tell, but I am not unhappy with my purchases..

Dave

 

[642mx]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I've got a few Kobalt tools and I like them. Any tool will break eventually if its used (or should I say mis-used) enough.

 

[i386]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I have 1 Kobalt tool. A 7/16" wrench. Compared to my Craftsman wrenches, the Kobalt is the nicest looking wrench I have. I'd probably own more if there was a blue store in my town. We only have Sears and the Orange Store.

 

[mcgyver210]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I have many different brands of tools & so far I haven;t broken any Kobalt tools.

 

[i386]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Slight correction...

I just read the Kobalt doesn't sell the polished whenches anymore. That's what I have and it really looks as nice as a Snap-On. The ones I saw on Lowes web site are not polished but they did say Made In USA which is nice.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Tools is a very broad category. I have a large Kobalt channel locks that work well enough for me.

I also purchased the contractor pack of those folding/pocket knife style utility knives. The contractor pack came with 4 knives and cost less than 2 of the knives if purchased individually. The knives work fine and are much nicer than the old slide in style knives.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Kobalt are made by Snap-on. I have a few and not a complaint about them.

 

[Bass Tracker TX17]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Kobalt are made by Snap-on. I have a few and not a complaint about them.

AAAAAAHH i don't think so anymore..

do a internet search.

 

[gss036]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

One thing about Sears/Craftsman tools, once you buy one you will have it for life as long as you keep taking it back if you break it. They have a lifetime warrant on all their hand tools.
I once bought a 5 inch vice at a garage sale with a broken center screw, went in the see if I could buy a replacement center screw and they gave me a brand new vice..

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Lots of hand tools have lifetime warranties, do Kobalt wrenches, etc... not have a lifetime warranty?
As far as a couple review go, I'd take them with a grain of salt. There is nothing to prevent anyone from posting a fake review (good or bad), and angry people usually are quick to vent, but satisfied people less so.
A couple hundred reviwes and you may see a pattern- two or three is too few to make a determination.
I've had good luck with Craftsman wrenches and screwdrivers, yet others hate them. I'm not a professional mechanic, and simply can't justify paying for Snap On or MAC. They're beautifully made but for me, I can get by with Craftsman, etc.....
I've never had a problem swapping out my worn out screwdrivers. I had one bad ratchet swapped out no questions asked, no reciept needed, etc....
Never had to swap out a socket or combination wrench.

 

[perchin]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I have no complaints about their hand tools.

Their Air-compressors on the other hand, just suck

 

[Mark42]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Lots of hand tools have lifetime warranties, do Kobalt wrenches, etc... not have a lifetime warranty?
As far as a couple review go, I'd take them with a grain of salt. There is nothing to prevent anyone from posting a fake review (good or bad), and angry people usually are quick to vent, but satisfied people less so.
A couple hundred reviwes and you may see a pattern- two or three is too few to make a determination.
I've had good luck with Craftsman wrenches and screwdrivers, yet others hate them. I'm not a professional mechanic, and simply can't justify paying for Snap On or MAC. They're beautifully made but for me, I can get by with Craftsman, etc.....
I've never had a problem swapping out my worn out screwdrivers. I had one bad ratchet swapped out no questions asked, no reciept needed, etc....
Never had to swap out a socket or combination wrench.

All my mechanics hand tools are Craftsman, and I do return them when they break, especially screw drivers and needle nose pliers. No problem with the Craftsman wrenches, sockets, etc.

I am looking for a compact tool "kit" that has 2 or 3 pliers, screwdrivers, SAE and metric wrenches & sockets, etc. But I didn't see that Craftsman has a kit like that. I bought a cheap tool kit for the boat from Harbor Freight, and now I find myself using it all the time because it has everything I need 90% of the time in one lightweight organized case. It is a low grade set, and I know if it is used often tools will start breaking. So I'm looking for a similar set from a quality tool name.

Lowes has a Kobalt kit that fits the bill, that's what prompted this post.

If you can recommend another brand that is not professional grade and price, I am interested in hearing about it.

This is what I have in mind. This photo is actually the cheap Harbor Freight set. Looking for something like this kit from Craftsman, etc.

Thanks,

Mark.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Mark,

I just went to craftsman.com and clicked on tool kits and they have over 7 pages of various tool kits at various prices, lots of their stuff is on sale right now due to the holidays.

I know a lot of the Sear Stores, don't carry everything in their stock on hand inventory, but ordering the kits are pretty easy and often times you will get it at a better price than you could have got in the store.

In looking around a bit, it seems Kobalt also has a lifetime warranty on their mechanics tools and based on what Harbor Freight says on their website, their hand tools also have a lifetime warranty on them.

 

[swaycleveland]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

the pittsburg sockets and wrenches at harbor freight are the same as crapsman. and HF has no problem returning them due to their lifetime warrenty. ill keep buying sockets from harbor freight and a few other odds and ends. but other then that i dont put my trust in most of what they sell. i can promise you i have broke every brand of tool out there. if its a spare kit you want buy something affordable until it is proven to be worthless
by the way knipex is the best pair of pliers in the world. i own no channel locks just knipex they are god like

 

[BUDDY123]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

If you have any local flea markets, you could make your own set, and only buy what you need. Just hit one on Sunday and picked up 10 craftsman sockets for .50 each, plus a bunch of misc stuff for my son. They were also selling a full set of China stuff for $5. You can also get some good hits at local auctions. And like everyone else, I picked up 3 broken craftmen rachets at a yard sale for $4 and got all 3 replaced.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Mark,

I just went to craftsman.com and clicked on tool kits and they have over 7 pages of various tool kits at various prices, lots of their stuff is on sale right now due to the holidays.

I know a lot of the Sear Stores, don't carry everything in their stock on hand inventory, but ordering the kits are pretty easy and often times you will get it at a better price than you could have got in the store.

In looking around a bit, it seems Kobalt also has a lifetime warranty on their mechanics tools and based on what Harbor Freight says on their website, their hand tools also have a lifetime warranty on them.

I went all through their online offerings, and although they do have lots of tool sets, I could not find a general purpose tool set like the picture above.

Thanks.

None of the cheap sets have drop forged sockets or wrenches like Craftman sets. Its hard to beat Craftsman for the quality for the dollar. The cheap sets are just stamped, not even Chrome Vanadium steel. So they will break or just "round off" from use.

Also looking at Huskey, Stanley, and any of the other nationally recognized brand names.

Oh well, I'll keep looking.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

I think you will find that Husky and Kobalt are made by the same manufacture in China.

Like I said in another thread about tools, I buy a lot of name brand stuff at the local pawn shops, for pennies on the dollar, I was in our large pawn shop here in town yesterday, and they had several pre packaged kits that people had sold to them, one of them was a Mac set that looked like it had never been used and I think they were only asking $75 for it, and I know I could have talked them down some on it and it seems to me it was a 50 pc kit..

As far as Stanley, myself I won't purchase their hand tools, they just don't hold up in my opinion, at least I have not had good luck with them.

Another place to look for different kits is actually K-Mart, they carry craftsman now that they are owned by Sears, but they package different kits than you will see in the Sears stores.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Think I found what I was looking for.

This is a reasonably good home tool set by Crescent Tools (aka Cooper Industries - makers of the original and famous Crescent Wrench as well as other big brand names.) It has the mix of sockets, wrenches, pliers, screw drivers, hex wrenches, etc all in one case. Real chrome vanadium sockets and ratchets. About $100.

Wish it had a small hammer, vice grip and regular pliers, but this is as close as I can find to what I want.

High res link if you want to see detail.

http://www.cooperhandtools.com/onlinecatalog/images/CTK170MP_300.jpg

If you come across something better, let me know. Found this priced as low as $92.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kobalt Tools at Lowes. Good or no?

Cool,

Looks like a nice kit to keep in the car and the boat...